Seconds and Years
by iNvIsIbLe GiRl 12
Summary: So that was his name. Henry.' Series of quick stories about Natalie and Henry's relationship during their teenage years. New chapter coming up soon! Terrible summary sorry...my fault good story! Please R&R!
1. Freshmen Year

**A/N: Hey there....tech week's over!! So i have time to upload now! This came out of pure boredom one day...my OC Julie makes another appearance...YAY NATALIE/HENRY FLUFF! lol...a lot of dialogue...oh well! REVIEW PLEASE!**

**Disclaimer: *Sigh* I STILL do not own Next to Normal...i will NEVER own Next to Normal...I'm a crazy obsessed N2N freak, but I don't own it...**

"Ugh….its official. I hate high school…" Natalie complained to her best friend Julie. It was their first day of freshmen year.

"Why? It's the first day, Nat…"

"Yeah, but I have SOOO much homework…on the first day!" Julie merely smirked. 'Well, that what you get for taking AP courses…"

"What? Now it's bad that I'm smart?" Julie playfully pushed her aside as they walked out of the building. Natalie craned her neck, looking around the parking lot. "God, where's my dad?"

"He's not here yet? What the hell? I thought this carpooling thing would work…"

"He's probably just running late. He'll be here soon." About an hour later, her and Julie were still sitting there.

"Ok, Nat, he's not coming." Natalie groaned and slouched against the wall. Why did this always happen to her? Why did it have to be _her_ family that was all fucked up? Why couldn't she just live life like a normal teenager? That was, of course, if she knew how a normal teenager lived. She took out her cell phone and called her father. "Hello?" he answered, sounding slightly rushed.

"Dad? Where are you? We've been sitting here for over an hour!"

"Oh, shit, Nat….I'm _so_ sorry…your mother-"

"Yeah, yeah….I know…can you please come pick us up?" She rolled her eyes, causing Julie to giggle slightly. "Ok. I'll be there in a little while."

"Ok." Natalie said, immediately hanging up on him. "So what's the verdict this time?" Julie asked.

"Who knows? Who _cares?_" Natalie fell against the wall again. About thirty minutes later, Dan finally arrived to pick them up. "I swear to God, Natalie, if I get grounded for being late-!" Julie whispered to Natalie in the car.

"Just be thankful your parents care enough to ground you!"

"Wanna switch places with me then?"

"I wish…" They had dropped Julie off at her house before silently retreated back to theirs. Natalie didn't want to ask what happened. She wanted to know, but as soon as she heard, she knew she'd regret hearing it.

"So, how was your first day?" Dan asked, hoping to break the silence.

"It was ok. I mean, apart from the fact that my life is a living hell and I'm the laughing stock of the school." She sighed as they pulled into the driveway. "And it's about to get a whole lot more suckish."

* * *

Natalie returned to school the next day, her face completely tear-stained, her makeup all messed up. She trudged into her English class taking the front seat of the first row as usual. She got out her homework to check it over. But she couldn't help but to stain that with tears as well. Last night had been the fucking night from Hell. Her mother was being her usual self as always. Freaked out in the neighbor's yard again. They threatened to call the police on her...

Natalie tried to shake the incident off her mind, but she couldn't think of anything else. "I said, YOU'RE IN MY SEAT, MORON!"

Natalie came back to reality. A big tall boy stood towering over her. "Oh. Um…sorry…I'll move…" So she did as she was commanded and moved to the row next to the boy. Another boy sat behind her. He wore a black _Nightmare Before Christmas_hoodie with the hood up which concealed his messy black hair, all in his face. His expression was somewhat vague as she watched him scribble into a notebook. He had his iPod blasting louder than it should have been. She expected to hear some heavy death metal screeching from the ear phones. But no. Instead she could only hear Debussy's "Claire de Lune" softly making it's way out of the little device.

He looked up and noticed her staring. He shut his notebook and paused his music. "What?" he asked, almost irritated. She stumbled across her words.

"O-Oh…I was just…um…"

"Why were you staring at me like that?" She still struggled to get the right words out. "Well, you were-"

"Just leave me alone…" He gave her a death stare until she turned around. His music resumed as he opened up his notebook again. Throughout the day, she noticed the boy was in about half of her classes. He always sat behind her with his iPod and his notebook. She never asked the boy his name nor did he ever participate in class. She was oblivious to him. Towards the end of the week, in her history class, where, again, the boy sat behind her, she decided to confront him.

"Hi." She said brightly. He ignored her and continued to scribble away. "Um, I'm Natalie."

He looked up at her. "Natalie?" She nodded.

"Yes. That's what I said." He turned back to his notebook. "What are you working on?"

"Just some stupid shit…"

"Well, can I see your stupid shit?" He glared at her. "Hell no. Why would you want to see it anyway? It's shit."

She smiled. "Come on, I bet it's not that bad."

"It's shitty." He bent over to get his pencil that had dropped while Natalie stole his notebook and looked through it.

It was a song written I his scratchy handwriting. _"'Darkness will disappear/As long as you are here/The light of day will come again/I'll be your light, girl,/you know that it's right, girl/ the dark of night is nevermore.' _Oh my God…this is so amazing…" He noticed that she had his notebook.

He grabbed it from her hands, yelling, "Give that back! I told you it was shit!"

"You're really good. Have you ever actually written any music?" He nodded and continued to add on more.

"Can you get me a copy? I was just wondering, I mean, I play the piano…"

"Me too." She smiled at the boy. "You know, I still don't know your name."

"I'm Henry." He slightly grinned for the first time and went back to working on his song.

_So that was his name….Henry…_

**_A/N: AWWWWW! Wait..._Sorry! It was in italics...reviews, anyone? **


	2. Sophomore Year

**A/N: Here's part two...aww...this one's so sad...POOR HENRY! lol...Yes. My Henry's last name is now Davis. No. Not from RENT. I searched most common surnames and Davis popped up...It was originally Henry Blake. I was like, "Wow! I love the sound of that!" Why did it sound so good? Well, I watched M*A*S*H a few days later and i was reminded...Colonel Henry...Blake.....grrr....oh well....Now i can relate him to Roger! MWUAHAHAHAHA! IDEAAAAA!**

**Disclaimer:  
Me: Ok, Henry, are you ready?  
Henry: No...I feel so stupid...  
Me: It's for the fans, Henry...  
Henry: Fine...but this better not end up on the Internet!  
Gabe: *menacingly with camera* Too late!  
Henry: *Sigh*I am Henry and I approve this message. *sung badly* iNvIsIbLe GiRl 12 does not own me, or Natalie, or Gabe, or anything else Next to Normal-related. AND MY LAST NAME HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ROGER DAVIS!  
Me: One more thing Henry...  
Henry: What?  
Me: *a la "All For You"* It took me several weeks, but I'm just an obsessed fan...too! *Spoken* SO DON'T TRY AND SUE ME CUZ I'M JUST A FAN!!! I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!**

**On with the story, sorry...**

Summer vacation came and ended too soon. Now returning as sophomores, Natalie and Julie were still being driven to school, only one year away from getting their licenses. "Ok, so what do you have first period?" Julie asked, as they piled everything into their new lockers.

"Um…I have Honors Latin III…"

"You've got to be kidding me. The reason we're not in any classes together is because you're so smart!"

"Ok, what do you have first period, Jules?" Julie searched through her schedule. "I've got English 10. God, this sucks."

"You're telling me…" Natalie turned around to get to class when she bumped into a boy, wearing the familiar Jack Skellington hoodie with his black hair all over the place. "Oh! Hi!" She said, recognizing Henry right away. He slightly grinned and acknowledged her, moving on with his day. She was a little bummed out. They had always been able to talk last year. What made this year any different? He seemed…strange. Like something was wrong.

"Henry Davis? You're into _Henry Davis?_" Julie commented, watching her friend's sullen eyes pierce her own. Natalie shook her head as another bad memory of her mother's fuck ups over the summer ran through her mind. She shuddered and headed off to class.

She couldn't wait for English. She knew he'd be there. Sitting behind her as usual. As soon as she entered the room, she smiled, noticing that he was sitting in the exact same seat. "Henry, I-!"

But before she could get her thought out, the boy from last year, the big, tall tough one, approached him and said, "God, Davis, you look like a fucking stoner. What the hell happened to you?" Henry ignored him. He went back to his notebook. The boy quickly stole it from him.

"What is this?" He flipped to the song Henry had written. "Aw, look, Jake, it's a love song for his little girlfriend."

The boy showed it to his friend, who laughed immediately, eyeing Natalie continuously. "Hmmm…she doesn't really seem to care about it. Maybe I should just, uh, get rid of it for you?"

Natalie gave him a desperate look. Why wasn't he fighting back? Why didn't he protest? All his hard work was gone. And he was just gonna sit there? Well, if he wasn't going to do anything, Natalie was. "Hey! Jason!" She called over to the tough boy.

"Oh, look at that. She's standing up for him." Jason's friend was still laughing in her face.

"You know, I really wouldn't throw that out if I were you."

"And why's that, Goodman?"

"Um…" Natalie looked around, uncomfortable. "Well…I don't know exactly why, but it's not a very good idea to anger the child of a mentally confused woman." The rest of class giggled, enthralled by what was going on. She felt even more uncomfortable now. _Great. I had to bring up my fucking mother…_Jason chuckled and shook his head.

"You're just about bordering a pretty bad beating for your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend! And why don't you just beat me instead? I could probably use some sense knocked into me. Oh. That's right. I'm a girl. You can beat all the boys you want, but you can't beat a _girl?_" Slightly intimidated, Jason backed off and Natalie got Henry's notebook back to him.

"There. You're welcome."

"What the fuck was that?! You idiot, you could've been hurt! Why would you even _think_ of doing that?!" She sat down before class started, angrily glancing back at him. She almost cried herself through the class she was so upset. He was like this everyday for months. Around December, she asked him one day after English in the hallway, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

He just stared at her. His expression was so much more vague than usual. His hair was messed up. He seemed so distant. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong with me…"

"Yes there is! You've been acting so weird! Why?"

"It's nothing…" Angrily, she snatched a little baggie that was hanging out of his book bag. It was just a plain white crystallized substance.

"HOLY SHIT! YOU'RE ON CRACK?!" He threw his hand over her mouth trying to quiet her.

"Shut up! Do you _want_ to get me expelled?!"

"Why do you have that with you, then?! Why do you have it in the first place?!"

He rolled his eyes and gave her a blank stare. "Why else do you think? I'm fucking hooked…I'm a fucking stoner…" He stole it back and walked out of the building, into the cold winter air. She chased after him, trying to get him to talk to her, but he climbed into his tiny beat up car and drove away, leaving her devastated in the school hallway.


	3. Junior Year

**A/N: Last part! BIG AWWWWWWWWWWW! This chapter's so adorable...my friend DD's gonna kill me cuz it's too cannon for her taste...Oh well! It's short though...lol...PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer:  
****Big Fancy Commercial Narrator: iNvIsIbLe GiRl 12 DOES NOT OWN NEXT TO NORMAL or anything related to it.  
****Me: I'm iNvIsIbLe GiRl 12 and I approve this message!  
**

After a whole summer of driving everywhere freely, finally getting a later curfew, and, of course, some more of her mother's infamous fuck ups (Costco, anyone?), Natalie was almost happy to get back to school. She rushed into the building a whole hour early. She made her way to the practice room the school had for the band. She took a seat at the piano and played. Everything sounded wonderful…

Until she heard a screech come from the F# instead of the F natural. "Shit!" She played again, making several more mistakes. "Shit, shit, shit!" Nothing was working for her…She had to get it perfect. Absolutely flawlessly perfect if she wanted to get into Yale. She was going to try to get a full ride off a music scholarship. She sighed and played it again. The bell rang by the time she nailed it.

She walked off to class with the slightest bit of confidence. She finally had a class with Julie, relieved that Henry was nowhere in sight. She hadn't seen him in months. She was worried for him…She remained just as confident until she stumbled upon her English class. She cautiously walked in, not noticing him anywhere. She took her usual seat and actually focused on the class for once and not him. Before she knew it, the school bell had rung. Julie stood outside Natalie's locker.

"Why aren't you going home?"

"I gotta practice."

"You have a piano at your house, Nat." Natalie slammed her locker shut.

"You think I'd rather be _there? _Hell, no!" Julie giggled and said goodbye to her friend while Natalie rushed off to the practice room.

She booked it for an hour. Constantly messing up, she figured _Why even try? _But then the little voice in her head told her to keep going. She looked at the clock. Seven more minutes…Natalie sighed and ran through it again. She jumped as she heard the door unlock. She thought it was that stupid rich kid who always was in the room getting impatient.

But when she turned around to tell him off, she froze as she realized that it was Henry.

"What the hell are you doing here? I still have seven more fucking minutes. Go away…" He walked right in.

"Keep going. I'm just listening." She sighed and continued as he walked closer to her. "Could you please not breathe down my neck like that? You're messing me up." He nodded and moved a few feat away. She finally just stopped and asked him, "What do you want?"

"Well, I was waiting for the room to open up, but seeing now that I have a change of plans…"

"Can you just leave me alone?" He grabbed onto her hands and pulled her up towards him. "Natalie, look, I just have to get this off my chest, ok?" She struggled, trying to break away from his grasp.

"Nat…I love you."

Her fidgeting stopped. She completely froze. "Wh-What?"

"I love you."

"Y-you're not being serious, are you?" He shook his head, completely dead serious. "Are you just saying that because you're fucking high or something? How's the crack addiction?"

"I'm purely organic now. So crack's out of the question." She smirked, "What, so now you're a pothead?"

A bit sheepishly, he nodded. "Great. Well, that's the first thing that'll have to go. You know my dad won't let me go out with a pothead." He stared at her, confused. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"I'm giving you a chance, Henry."

"Really? You're sure? Nat, that means the world to me…" She grinned and punched him lovingly. "You're beginning to sound more and more like a stalker every minute."

"Oh! Hey, hold on. I have something for you." He searched through his ripped old book bag to find a few pieces of sheet music. "Here." She looked at it. It was the song he wrote. A huge smile came across her face. "Henry, that's so nice of you…I mean, it sounds like you were planning this in advance, but…"

"No. I wasn't. You know I wrote that for you?" She stared at him, puzzled. "Really?"

"Really." His eyes were wild, sparkling even. Her smile got bigger as he leaned in and kissed her. The shock of adrenaline she got as their lips met…"You know, Henry, I think this is a good start to a wonderful relationship."

"That's fine with me." He escorted her out of the building and walked her to her car. "Well…I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye."

"Bye." Right before she could get into her car, he kissed her again, this time so passionately that she fell back into the open car door, onto the front seat. Realizing how far they were getting, Henry backed away and stared right into Natalie's big, brown eyes. She pushed herself up and smiled. "Goodbye, Henry." "Bye…" he watched her speed off into the distance. "Natalie."

**A/N: ! Sorry...I can't help myself. in the words of Spring Awakening 'We all got our junk and my junk is Natalie/Henry fluff.' PLEASE REVIEW!**


	4. Senior Year part 1

**A/N: Hey there…ok, this was originally ended, but my friend DD (get used to hearing the name a lot. My N2N buddy…) wanted me to add more. So…I was on Facebook talking to my friend (not DD…my other friend) and she came up with a plot. And I love it! AND I WON'T SPOIL IT! So…this section has been split into two parts. **

**I had a need to get into Henry's head because it seemed like all the other chapters are about Natalie…and I love Henry…So enjoy!**

**Disclaimer:**

**DD: Hey, what do you want for Christmas?  
****Me: *sung* All I want for Christmas is the rights to Next to Normal. Which sadly, I don't own, because I'm just a fan. All I want for Christmas is the rights to Next to Normal, but seeing the show would suffice enough!  
****DD: Um…ok?  
****Me: OOH! Also, I'd like to be Jennifer Damiano for a day…  
****DD: Um-  
****Me: And then I'd get married to Aaron Tveit! Ahhhh!  
****DD: Yeah…**

**Anyway…enjoy!**

Summer couldn't have gone by any slower, Natalie thought, returning for her last year of high school. The past year had been rough on her. Her mother went incredibly insane, seeing visions of her dead brother who was obviously, well, dead. She went through two different doctors and ended up leaving treatment…and her husband. Natalie was having a breakthrough herself. She had taken her relationship with Henry to a whole new level. At first it was just a simple' we're just friends' thing, one spring dance later and it's 'we're getting pretty serious.'

She didn't even know why she liked to be with him. They were so different…but he loved her and she loved him. That's all she cared about. She stumbled into the small building, trying not to make it noticeable that she was coming back from a few months of withdrawal. She had a little stint with drug abuse the previous year. She noticed how strong her mother was, leaving treatment, the man she loved, and just everything to pursue what made her happy. Natalie took advantage of the time and did the same, and every step, every painfully hard step, she took, she saw Henry right next to her.

"Hey." a voice said, as Natalie reached her new locker.

Her head flew around to see who the voice belonged to. But before she could see, a pair of hands placed themselves in front of her eyes. "Guess who?" the voice came again.

Natalie smirked and responded, "Ok, Henry, I know it's you. Get your hands out of my face before I smack you."

He quickly did as she commanded. They quickly kissed, only to run into Julie, who was looking a lot more rushed than usual. "God, no PDA in the halls…" Henry rolled his eyes at her as they ventured off into their first classes of the last year.

* * *

The bell rang…the weekend…finally! Henry came to visit Natalie at her locked again. "So…you got any plans?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh…no reason…"

He smirked and continued to watch her bend over to force her giant history book into the dingy book bag she always carried.

"Well, actually…" She began, throwing her history book down to look at Henry. "You know Julie's having that party tonight…."

"No!"

She glared at him. She remembered when they first met. She was the one that told him that taking drugs was wrong…and they suddenly switched places…She knew he only wanted what was best for her, but he wasn't her father. She could do what she wanted to do.

"Come _on_, Henry! It's one night! I'm not gonna relapse after _one_ night…"

"How do you know? You had a bad problem! It could happen all over again…"

She continued to shake her head at him. "Please? Just for one night? That's it I swear!"

He took a moment to think about it. "Fine. But I swear if you relapse-"

"I won't. I promise." She kissed him, smiling.

* * *

The party was wild. Music was blasting, people were shouting. Henry sat alone, waiting for Natalie to return from whatever it was she was doing. Julie noticed him antisocially detaching himself from the commotion, so she strolled over to him and sat beside him.

"Hey. What's up?"

He shrugged. "Nothing…"

"C'mon, Henry, I've known you since you were six. I _know _when something's bothering you."

Once again, he shrugged. "I don't wanna talk about it…"

She shrugged her shoulders as well, for lack of conversation. She drummed her fingers on her leg out of pure boredom until it came to her. "It's about Natalie, isn't it?"

He nodded, refusing to meet her gaze, staring blankly at the wall across the room.

"You know…" Julie began, trying to be optimistic, which she clearly wasn't. "I'm worried about her too. She's my best friend, but…I can't help but feel…well, jealous."

Henry turned his head towards her and looked her in the eyes for the first time. "Jealous?"

She nodded, laughing at herself. "I…I shouldn't have said that…God, I feel so stupid…"

"No. Go on."

She let out a sigh of relief and continued. "Look, you're one of my best friends, you know that, right?"

"Yeah…so?"

"So…I can tell you anything and you won't judge me?"

"Not at all."

She inhaled deeply, moving slightly closer to him.

"Henry, I…I'm in love with you."

He was silent. Not a sound came out from him. He was having an internal conflict. One little voice was telling him that he shouldn't be falling for his best friend. He had Natalie. And only God knows what she'd do if he left her…Then another voice fought back saying that he'd been going out with Natalie for over a year and that it's time to move on. But if he stayed with Natalie, would he lose his friendship with Julie? And if he went with Julie, would he destroy his relationship with Natalie?

"Um…Henry? You ok?"

He snapped back into reality. "Oh. Yeah. Sorry…just a little, um, _shocked_…"

Julie giggled uncomfortably. "Yeah…I thought you would be…But, I mean, I've always felt this way. And when you and Natalie hooked up last year, it just was sort of bugging me…"

"Uh, well…that's great that you're getting it all out, but I'm with-"

He never finished his sentence. Julie's lips were meeting with his. He didn't want to hurt her, so he let her do it. But inside he knew nothing good would come of it. All of the sudden he just heard a shout that startled him out of the conflict.

"HENRY? WHAT THE FUCK?!

He quickly pushed Julie away from him. There, standing angrily in front of him was Natalie.


	5. Senior Year part 2

**A/N: WAAAAAAAAAAH! It's the end of "Seconds and Years!" It's kind of confusing at first…I had to put Gabe in though. I just realized that he is terribly underused in my fics…even more underused than Dr. Madden…but I love them both…**

**I'd like to give a shout out to DD who gave me the idea of making my story longer!**

**Disclaimer:**

**Santa Claus: Ho ho ho! And what do you want for Christmas this year, iNvIsIbLe GiRl 12?**

**Me: Well, Santa, I want to own Next to Normal!**

**Santa Claus: No can do, kiddo. You don't own it.**

**Me: Then I want to be in Next to Normal.**

**Santa Claus: Nope.**

**Me: Can I _see_ Next to Normal?**

**Santa Claus: You're pushing it, kid.**

**Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving and have a Merry Christmas a whole month early!**

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Natalie was angry. She was really angry…Henry managed to stutter a few syllables out, but she still went on ranting and raving.

"I leave you alone for five minutes and you _cheat on me?!"_

"Nat, nothing happened…"

She glared at him with a deep, fiery anger. "If nothing happened, Henry, then how come I walk into the room only to find you making out with my best friend?"

"We were _not_ making out…it was close, but it wasn't…" Julie piped up. She jumped a little as Natalie's angry eyes fell upon her as well. "Sorry, Nat…"

Her anger was so intense, Natalie couldn't even find any more words to shout at them. She wanted to just scream, but making a scene wasn't the best thing to do now. She was hurt. She was lied to and cheated on. Without saying a word, she ran away from the two and found herself in the kitchen, where a whole bunch of the preps were sitting and talking. She noticed the open bottle of vodka that sat next to them.

She knew it was wrong and she knew she'd start up again. But it was risk that or feel the pain. She grabbed it off the counter, taking shot after shot until the pain was gone. About forty minutes had passed. She walked back into the main room where Henry still sat, distraught. She tried to avoid him and walk away, but he stopped her.

"Nat, look, I'm sorry-"

"No! Do you think I'm gonna accept your apology after what you did to me?"

"Natalie, it's a misunderstanding."

"You know what's a misunderstanding? Why I'm still with you."

He got quiet and stood up as he walked towards her. "You're fucking drunk, aren't you? I know how you get when you are. You're not really this nasty to me when you're sober."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not drunk…just a little tipsy…"

He shook his head, glancing down at his feet. "Yeah, tipsy my ass. I'm getting you home. Now."

"NO!" He had a grip on her arm, as if she would fly away if he let go. She tugged away from him and rushed out the door as soon as possible. She ran to her car and sped down the quiet street. She wasn't feeling good now. A little dizzy…kind of nauseous. Before long, she had the car going at about fifty miles per hour. And then…everything went black.

* * *

Gasping for breath, Natalie woke up in an unfamiliar place. It was a tunnel. It was dark and damp and tiny. She looked around her. Nothing but endless blackness. Then her eyes were graced by a bright light. She looked into it only to see a figure of a young man walk out of it. He walked in her direction and stopped only about half of a foot away from her. She could make out the details of him now. The boy was smirking, not quite a frown, not quite a smile. His arms were intertwined across his chest. His sandy-colored hair was flipped up in ever direction.

"I can't believe that I'm seeing _you_ here."

Natalie was confused. The voice sounded so…so familiar…"Who are you? Where the hell am I?"

"You don't know m-? How do you not know? I've been around your whole life."

She still gave him a look of confusion.

"Does the name Gabriel ring any bells?"

She gawked at him, open-mouthed. This…this was her _brother?_ This was _Gabe?_ He smirked again, enjoying her confusion. "Yep, you guessed it. Nice to finally meet you, little sister of mine."

"B-but you don't…you don't exist. You're dead…unless I'm crazy…"

He laughed heartily. "Well, that's debatable. You're not crazy. You're almost dead."

Her heart skipped a few beats as her hand flew to her chest. The beating was getting slower and slower.

"B-But I don't wanna die! I haven't even really lived yet!"

"Well, that's because your idea of living is partying and getting wasted every night."

She gave him a cold glare. "You've been talking to Henry or what?"

"No. But I see where he's coming from. He only wants-"

"What's best for me…I know…"

Gabe smiled at her. She was as ignorant as she always was. He hated saying it, but he actually agreed with the asshole who ruined his sister's life on this. She was slowly killing herself. But of course, what kind of say does a dead boy have in his sister's well-being?

"He loves you, you know. I saw what happened. He didn't do it."

"But I can't trust him…wait. How do you know what happened with me and Henry?"

"Sure, you don't notice me, but I notice you a lot. Now, are you really just gonna sit here and let yourself die or do you wanna make things right?"

Natalie took a moment to contemplate. "I wanna make things right."

"Good…but wait. Before you go…Can I just say it was a real pleasure finally meeting you and…and I'm sorry for everything that I caused you."

Natalie smiled, embracing the fact that she took a moment to speak with the boy who caused her life to be a living hell. She could now feel the heartbeat getting slower…

"So gather your pathetic strength and wake up, Nat! Wake up…wake up…"

* * *

"Wake up…Please wake up, Nat…"

The light had faded. Natalie finally regained consciousness as she found herself in a bright monotonous-colored hospital room.

"Natalie?" She looked over to the voice. There was Henry, standing by her side, holding her cold, pale hand.

Her free hand flew to her chest. Her heart was beating at a normal pace. She was alive.

"Henry!" She flung herself onto him, only to gasp in pain a second later. "God…what the hell happened?"

"Y-You were in a car crash. They came just in time before you…well…we thought you were…we thought you were dead."

_So did I…_she thought, examining bruise after bruise all over her body. She never felt so happy to be a live…so happy to be with him. She solemnly said, "Henry…I'm so sorry for what I did…it was uncalled for…but I had the weirdest-!"

"Shhh…" He gently placed his finger upon her lips, quieting her. "We'll worry about that later."

She watched him get up from her bedside and pick up a heavy black guitar case. "You play guitar too?" she asked him curiously. He nodded and placed some music onto her bed. He found his chords and sang quietly. "_'Darkness will disappear/As long as you are here/The light of day will come again…" _She thought of the lyrics as she listened. They were true. It seemed like during her darkest moments, there he was to brighten her day. She realized now…she would be empty without him…He was her light. And she was loving every minute of it.


End file.
